


D&D is a Good Source of Knowledge

by jumboflamingo



Category: IT - Stephen King, Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Anxiety, F/F, F/M, M/M, Mentions of Death, Richie Moves to Hawkins, Richie Tozier Has Issues, Richie Tozier and Mike Wheeler Are Cousins, Richie is 17, barb and robin are gay for eachother, pennywise is an asshole, richie and steve will eventually get together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:40:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22214200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jumboflamingo/pseuds/jumboflamingo
Summary: Richie's mom died when he was a kid, and his dad just died recently. Now, about a month after he turned 17, he has to move to Hawkins, Indiana, to live with his mom's sister and her kids. Something from Derry follows him all the way there, and with the help of the Party, his new friends, and the Losers, they take care of it quickly and smoothly. That's a lie. IT doesn't go down quick or smooth.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Mike Hanlon/Stanley Uris, Richie Tozier & Mike Wheeler, Robin Buckley/Barbara "Barb" Holland, Steve Harrington/Richie Tozier
Comments: 26
Kudos: 76





	1. Meeting the cousins

Richie stepped out of the passenger seat of Heather’s car. Heather is his CPS worker. She’s nice, blunt, and she’s not scared of telling Richie to shut the fuck up when she needs to. Richie looked up at the booming house in front of him. It’s really not that much bigger than his old house, but it’s new, and it doesn’t have chipping paint and rotting wood. He took a deep breath.  
Heather looked at him and said, “are you okay, Richie?” Richie snapped out of his stare and whipped his head towards her.  
“Yeah, I’m fine, Heather. Just a tad nervous.” Richie said the last part in an almost perfect british accent. Heather pretended to not be amused, but she clearly was.  
“It’s Mrs. Myers to you, Richie.”  
“Sure, Heather.”  
The front door opened and Richie looked over to see a woman who strikingly resembled his mother. That was his aunt, Karen. He sent her a tight lipped smile and went to the back seat to grab his stuff. Heather went over to talk to Karen and Richie just wanted to know where his room was so he could sleep. After she asked him about why his face was all bruised up, Karen invited the two in and when they got inside, she called for her two kids.  
Nancy and Mike walked into the room, pushing each other and arguing quietly. “Nancy, Mike, this is your cousin, Richie.” The two stopped talking in order to look at their cousin, and his bruised jaw. “He’ll be living with us from now on.” The two looked nervous, more nervous than Richie had felt on the entire ride here. That’s impressive, considering Richie has anxiety.  
“Nice to meet you, Richie.” Nancy muttered.  
“Yeah, Nice to meet you, Richie.” Mike repeated his sister.  
“Nice to meet you two.” Richie was hoping that if he was polite, they would lead him to his room and leave him be.  
“Now, Richie, I’m gonna chat with Mrs. Myers, but I want to tell you a few rules before Mike takes you to your room,” Mike let out an annoyed noise at that and Richie felt proud of himself. “First, dinner is always at six. Your curfew will be eleven unless you prove you can’t stay out that late, and lastly, no girls in your room. Also, your uncle is not fond of cursing, so please refrain.” Richie nodded. Mike waved a hand and said, “follow me, I guess.” Richie did, lugging behind him slowly with a box of records and his player, his duffel bag, and his backpack. Mike led him to the last room at the end of the hall upstairs on the right. It was clean and smelt like citrus cleaner. The walls were a light tan, the curtains were white, and the bedspread was black. The carpet was soft and that pleased Richie to no ends. He set the record box down, dropped his duffel bag and his backpack, and fell onto his new bed.  
“Do you need anything else?” Mike asked politely.  
“Nah.” Richie said. “Thanks. Just lemme take a nap, man.” Richie did a poor Jamaican accent. Mike tried to fight off a snort, but failed.  
“Alright.” Richie heard his door close, he rolled over and curled up on top of the comforter. He wanted to fall asleep. That 20 hour road-trip was tiring.

Mike ran down the basement stairs and sat down where he had been sitting before his mom called him up. The rest of the party, Nancy, Jonathan, Hopper, Joyce, Steve, Barb, and Robin were sitting there.  
“What are we gonna do?” Mike asked. “What if he finds out?”  
“Then he finds out, kid. We can’t prevent him from doing that.” Hopper said.  
“But it would be really bad if he did.” Lucas added, trying to be persistent.  
“Of course it would be,” Joyce said. “But still, we can’t do anything.”  
“What’s he doing right now?” Nancy asked.  
“Sleeping.” Mike stood and started pacing. “We can’t let him find out about the upside down. That would be terrible to let him find out.” Mike said.  
“What’s the upside down?” Richie’s voice from the top of the stairs rang out. His footsteps coming down the stairs felt ominous to the group, but he was just a fucking loser when you got to see his face.  
“I thought you were sleeping.” Mike said.  
“Yeah, aunty K woke me up saying I need to socialize.” Richie looked around the room at everyone. “You guys got a cult down here or something?” That got him multiple snorts and chuckles from around the room.  
“Yeah, kid, and you’re our next member.” Hopper commented.  
“Sweet! Can I be the cult leader?” Richie asked, sitting on the couch next to Max, who was next to Dustin.  
“Shut up.” Robin said.  
“Aye aye, Cap’n.” Richie replied, then made the move of zipping his mouth shut and locked it, and he threw the fake key at Dustin, who pretended to catch it, then he pretended to swallow it. Richie’s face fell to utter shock and he put his hands to the side of his head in a silent scream. The room chuckled at the two.  
“I’m Dustin, by the way.” Dustin started a chain of people introducing themselves to Richie, who in turn, mimed himself introducing himself, his mouth was zipped shut, after all. Robin and Barb were sitting quite close, and Richie wasn’t new to the queer scene. They seemed to be dating. He’d ask later, it’s not a very good idea to jump to conclusions.  
Richie kept the act up for about a half hour until Dustin pretended to shit out the key and he unlocked Richie’s mouth. Richie unzipped his mouth.  
“Oh thank god, Dusty, I thought my mouth was gonna be shut forever! That was disgusting, though. Please don’t put anything you shit out near my face again, please.” Dustin rolled his eyes. “So, what’s the upside down? I remember you guys saying I should never find out about it then failed to keep me from finding out about it.”  
“What happened to your face, kid?” Hopper asked, trying to change the subject.  
“It was a going away gift from my friend Bev. She said, ‘I hope this helps you remember me, asshole,’ then it was lights out for me” Richie explained.  
“That’s not very nice.” Joyce said.  
“She’s not very nice, Ms. Byers. She is one of my favorite people, though.” Richie smiled at the idea of her.  
“Girlfriend?” Nancy asked.  
“Nah. She’s dating our dear friend Benny boy. He’s super sweet, so I approve of it.” Richie sent them a smile. He still wanted to know what the upside down was, but if they thought not telling him about it would protect him from whatever it was, he’d let them. This town gave him a really bad feeling and ever since he entered the town, he’s been on edge. Not much different than when IT was around. Richie had tried to sleep, but he kept getting goosebumps and he felt sick. He just went and asked Karen where his cousins had run off too, then told them Karen made him come downstairs. He’s fairly certain that Karen wouldn’t mind.  
Max reminded him of Beverly, her fiery red hair and personality. Will reminded him of Ben, soft-spoken, but sweet. Mike reminded him of Stan. Mike wasn’t afraid of calling Richie out on his bullshit. Dustin, Steve, and Robin were probably his favorite, but he wouldn’t tell anyone that. El was weird and gave him funny vibes, made him want to go back upstairs, but he didn’t want to be alone. If they thought something was wrong with the town and didn’t tell him for his safety, he didn’t feel very safe.  
“Why are you scared?” Richie heard her voice for the first time as she said that, and the room went quiet. They looked between Richie and El.  
“What makes you think I’m scared?”  
“You are scared.”  
Richie looked at Mike.  
“El, leave him be.” Mike said.  
“But he’s scared.”  
“You’re probably the one scaring him.” Dustin commented. El glared at him and he went quiet.  
“This town just gives me a bad feeling, that’s all.” Richie said to El. She looked at him.  
“How?” Hopper asked. Richie shrugged.  
“It just does. It’s like I’m never alone. It feels like I’m being watched. It’s kinda like-” Richie cut himself off and looked towards the door suddenly, his face aware and stern. Will had felt it too. He looked at his mom as goosebumps covered his body. A red balloon was sitting in the side yard of the Wheeler’s residence. It was just floating there. Richie had gone pale. “Did one of you guys put a red balloon out there?” Richie asked, hope filled his voice.  
“No, kid, why?” Hopper asked. He saw the balloon, too, but he wanted to know why the kid was so scared of a red balloon.  
“Richie…” an awful voice said. It was torture to listen to the voice. “Richie… You don’t have your friends with you this time. What are you gonna do about me now?” The voice, the cold feeling in the room, and the red balloon disappeared.  
“I knew something was wrong with this awful town. Tell me what the upside down is right fucking now.”


	2. Sleeping with Steve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie gets an explanation of what the upside down is, he explains to the others what IT is, and Richie and Steve sleep in Richie's room together.

After a long and horrible explanation of what the upside down was and about El and everything that happened, Richie sighed and leaned back against the couch, rubbing his temples.  
“Hold up, demogorgon, like, D&D?” Richie asked.  
“You know D&D?” Dustin asked, excited.   
“Yeah I used to play when I was a kid.”   
“If I asked you to play with me, would you?” Will asked.  
“For sure!” Richie gave Will an excited smile.  
“My friends don’t want to play anymore.” Will said it like they weren’t in the room and Richie snorted.   
“Your friends sound like assholes.” Richie said, doing the same as Will, who fought off a smile.  
“So, kid, what was with the balloon and that horrible voice?” Hopper asked. “I feel like you would know, it said your name.”   
“It’s a fucking alien that came to earth like, a million years ago and it feeds off of children and their fear. It killed my friend’s younger brother and tried to kill me and my friends when we were 12. It’s on a cycle where it comes back every 30 odd years. We stopped it this time earlier than it was supposed to leave, but we didn’t kill it like we thought we did.” Richie sighed, the group looked at him with wide eyes. “Usually, adults can’t see what it does. It messes with your mind to scare you. It changes into your worst fear. It knows your worst fear better than you do. It calls itself Pennywise. We don’t call it that. Doing that humanizes it more than it deserves. It shows itself as a clown, so keep an eye out for a clown. It likes to hide in the sewers.” Richie stood and stretched. “I gotta call my friends. Now I know why this town gives me a horrible feeling.” Richie climbed the stairs two at a time.  
“This doesn’t sound horrifying at all.” Max said.  
“Yes it does.” Dustin said, looking at his feet. He looked up at her. “Oh, that was sarcasm.”   
“So what are we gonna do?” Will asked.  
“We’ll wait for Richie to come back and explain the situation more before we try to plan anything.” Joyce said. Richie came flying down the stairs and he fell onto the couch where he had been sitting before.   
“I called my friend, Stan, and he said he would tell my other friends. He said he’d call me back later. They’d figure out how to get down here to help.” Richie sighed.   
“It’s getting late, kid, we should all probably head home.” Hopper said. Richie pouted.   
“You don’t want us to leave, huh?” Steve asked with a teasing tone.   
“No way. You’re leaving me alone with a psychotic clown and something called the upside down?” Richie stood. “No way.”  
“You won’t be alone, kid. Mike and Nancy will still be here.” Hopper said. The door upstairs opened and a small voice said, “Wichie, mommy said she wants to talk to you.” It was Holly. The door closed again.  
“Would you feel better if Steve stayed and had a sleepover with you?” Robin asked. Richie lit up at the idea and Steve glared at her.  
“Yes. It would. Thank you Steve. Even though I can tell you don’t want to, I’m gonna make you cause you seem like a nice guy.” Richie bounded up the stairs once more and scooped Holly up into his arms when he got to the top. She let out a squeal of laughter at the sudden height change and Richie did a stupid voice after. He sounded like Elmo. Holly yelled, “Elmo!” and laughed as Richie continued to talk to her. Richie closed the door behind him with a kick of the foot and his voice trailed off as he walked away.  
“Well, see you guys later, I guess I’m staying here.” Steve said as the others stood.  
“Stop complaining, Steve. You always say you want a cute boyfriend or girlfriend. We’re helping you out,” Barb said.   
“He’s probably straight anyway, don’t get your hopes up.” Max said teasingly. Robin could tell immediately that the boy was NOT straight. Everyone but Mike, Nancy, and Steve went upstairs.  
“You’ll be fine.” Nancy said.

Richie was having a very captivating conversation with Karen upstairs. She kept asking him questions about school and what were his favorite things to do. He answered quickly in hopes she’d let him go. He was asking her the questions in turn to be polite, but he wasn’t really listening. She sighed and he looked up at her. “You don’t seem interested.” He smiled sheepishly.  
“Sorry, aunty. I’m just tired.”   
“Head up to your room, then, kid.” She said jokingly.   
“Steve’s gonna spend the night.”  
“Sleepover on your first night here?”   
“Yes.”  
“Okay. Keep it down.”   
Richie went to the top of the basement stairs and called out for Steve. His cute head of hair started coming up the stairs towards him. He bumped into Richie playfully when he got to the top of the steps.  
“Follow me, dear Steven.” Richie said and he grabbed Steve’s hand. He didn’t see the way Steve blushed, but he did think it was odd that Steve held his hand all the way to his room. “This is my room, Stevie. It isn’t much yet. I just moved in.” Richie explained like Steve didn’t already know that.   
“So am I sleeping on the floor?” Steve asked.  
“No way. That is a queen bed and a queen bed is made for two people. We can share a bed, can we not?” Richie fell onto the bed and took his jeans off. Steve rolled his eyes and pulled his own jeans off. Steve refuses to sleep in those tight jeans. “Lighten up a tad, Steve. This isn’t that bad, is it?” Richie’s tone had dropped from the teasing tone from earlier to doubtful, like he was questioning everything.  
“No, it’s not bad, Richie.” Steve was just feeling a little down because Max was right. Richie was probably straight.  
A bisexual guy in bed with a heterosexual guy. Said bisexual guy thinks the heterosexual guy is cute and funny. Not a good combo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!! If you have any complaints about grammar or spelling, let me know.


	3. Steve has a Bisexual Crisis™

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is kinda just some fluffy Steve and Richie content, we will get back to your regularly scheduled programs here soon.

Richie woke up feeling warm. Warmer than usual. He thought, “did I piss the bed?” but he pushed it off because, no, this was a comfortable warmth. He knows piss in the bed is a very uncomfortable warmth. He tried to roll over to look at the clock that he knew was on the table, but something grabbed him tighter around his shoulders. He froze and just pulled his head back.   
It was Steve. Cutie Steve. Straight boy Steve. Steve was cuddling him. Richie blinked at the guy and turned just his head. It was 10:43 in the morning. Richie wiggled a bunch. A lot. He wiggled a lot. Steve opened his eyes and looked at Richie unhappily.   
“Stop wiggling.” Steve closed his eyes again and snuggled closer to Richie. Now, Richie’s mouth was right by Steve’s ear. He had to stop himself from saying something dirty and sexual. He doesn’t know Steve well enough to do that, even if he really really wants to.   
“It’s almost 11, Stevie, I wanna get up.” Richie said, wiggling again.  
“I don’t wanna get up, you’re gonna stop wiggling and you’re gonna cuddle with me.” Steve wrapped his arms tighter around Richie, who cringed at the strain on his bruised ribs.  
What Richie had told them, the group who knows about the upside down, he told them Bev punched him in the face as a goodbye gift. That was a lie.  
Richie’s dad was abusive. One day, he snapped and went off on Richie and the fight escalated so much, Richie had to duck under a knife that his dad swung at him. The knife had gone into the wall and Went, who was drunk, had tried to get the knife from the wall, but couldn’t get it out. Out of fear and impulse, Richie had grabbed another knife, stabbed Went in the back, and ran to the phone. He called the police, told them the entire story, and when they arrived, they checked the scene, decided it was good enough, and Richie wasn’t arrested. Went had still been alive when the ambulance arrived, but they couldn’t save him. Richie cried for days and days and days because he killed his own father. Even if it was self-defense, Richie saw it as murder. He could probably never go another day without thinking of himself as a murderer. Richie wanted Steve to just hug him not so tight.   
“You’re hugging me too tight.” Richie said quietly, trying to not let the pain show in his voice. Steve stopped holding Richie immediately and pulled away.  
“Sorry, was I hurting you?” Steve asked. Richie’s heart fluttered at Steve’s kindness.   
“Only a little. I’m okay.”Richie grabbed Steve’s arms and wrapped them around himself. He shoved his face into his neck. Steve let out a relieved breath and snuggled closer to Richie, intertwining their legs. A quick knock and the door was open. Nancy stood there with a small smile. She winked at Steve because Richie didn’t have his glasses on and probably couldn’t see it. He couldn’t. Steve rolled his eyes.   
“Another meeting downstairs.” Nancy said. Richie groaned.   
“But I’m so comfortable.” Richie complained.  
“Just a minute ago you wanted to get up.” Steve said with a teasing smirk. Richie poked him in the side.   
“Shut up. I have to go to the bathroom and change and shit.” Richie pulled away from Steve and stood, only with a little cringe from pain, and he put his glasses on.  
“I have to go to the bathroom too.” Steve said. He stood and put his own pants on as Richie went to his bags and pulled out jeans, socks, and a clean t-shirt. Steve went to the bathroom first and Nancy said to just meet her downstairs. Richie had to change his bandages on his ribs and clean up. He would wait to change until he was in the bathroom. He could lock the door in there. Steve popped his head back into the room and said he would meet Rich downstairs. Richie nodded but stopped Steve to give him a hug.   
“Thanks for staying with me last night.” Richie said quietly to Steve. Steve had a couple inches on Richie and leaned his cheek on the top of Richie’s head.   
“You don’t have to thank me.” Steve replied. Richie felt like he suddenly could tell everything he ever hid from anyone ever to Steve. Steve should know anything and everything about him. Richie pulled away from Steve to look at him but left his hands on his waist. Richie smiled at Steve before letting go. The butterflies in Steve’s stomach fluttered and Steve smiled back before he left to go down the stairs.  
“Wait.” Richie said and Steve turned around with raised brows. “Can you wait outside the bathroom for me while I change?” Richie asked.   
“Sure.” Steve followed Richie to the bathroom and stood outside the closed door.   
Richie started to undress, Richie pulled his socks on first, bending over like that killed his ribs. He bent over again in an attempt to pull his jeans on over his socked feet, but his vision blacked and he didn’t want to risk anything. Richie went to the bathroom quickly and washed his hands, then said, “Steve?” to the closed door.   
“Yeah?” It was muffled from the wood.  
“Can you help me out quick?” Richie asked. He felt bad asking this of Steve, and he knew Steve would want an explanation.   
“Sure.”   
Richie unlocked the door and stood behind it as he opened it. Steve stepped into the bathroom with his eyes closed and Richie closed the door and locked it. “I’m not naked, you can open your eyes.” Steve did. He gasped as he saw Richie’s bandages on his ribs and his hands shot up, holding gently onto Richie’s biceps.  
“I didn’t do that, did I?” Steve asked and Richie gave him a confused look before he remembered how Steve hugged him a little tight. Richie chuckled.   
“No, that wasn’t you.” Richie shuffled. “Uh, my ribs hurt too much to bend over to get my jeans on. I got my socks on and then my ribs decided that if I wanted my jeans on, I’d have to pass out for that. Can you help me get them on?” Steve gave him a sad look, but nodded. Richie grabbed the jeans from the counter and held them out to Steve. Steve put the jeans under his arms and grabbed Richie under the armpits and lifted him smoothly and sat him on the counter. He pulled the jeans up over Richie’s knees and put him back on the floor. He pulled the jeans up over Richie’s boxers and Richie took the time to adjust his boxers and button and zip his jeans.   
“Thanks.” Richie smiled at Steve.  
“Your friend didn’t do that, did she?” Steve asked softly.   
“No. Can I tell you that story later, though. I don’t really wanna talk about it.”  
“You don’t have to tell me ever if you don’t want to.” Steve said. Richie was undoing his dried, bloody, bandages.   
“I do want to tell you. Just not right now.” Richie whispered. He was struggling to take the bandages off because the blood dried to them and it hurt. He had to get them off, though.   
“Do you want me to do that?” Steve asked and Richie nodded immediately.  
“Please.” Steve took the bandage from Richie’s shaking hand and he slowly peeled the bandage off of Richie. When Steve finally got the bloody bandage from Richie, he lifted Richie onto the counter and did basic first aid to Richie’s ribs. He re-wrapped them in clean bandages.  
Richie raised his arms a little and asked, “hug?” Steve rolled his eyes gently and pushed between Richie’s legs and hugged him. “Thank you, Stevie.” Richie said and Steve let go and grabbed Richie’s shirt. He pulled the shirt on over Richie’s head and Richie just gave him a pleased smile. Steve lifted Richie from the counter again and set him down on the floor. Richie grabbed Steve’s hand and pulled him from the bathroom and they went downstairs together. Karen stopped them and gave them breakfast to bring to the basement with them.   
“How was your cuddling?” Robin asked.   
“Amazing.” Richie said as Steve’s cheeks flared red. Robin had something planned and Steve could see it on her face. He wanted to leave and let Richie deal with her on his own.  
“So, Richie. Barb and I are together, did you know that?” Robin said. She and Barb were only out to people they trusted, and Richie was pretty trustworthy.   
“You know, I had a feeling.” Richie said and he took a bite of the sandwich Karen gave him. “You two were sitting awfully close yesterday.” He added, mouth full of sandwich.  
“How could you tell? Do you have some sort of experience?” Barb nudged her, letting her know she was probably going a little far.   
“My buddies Mike and Bill were so gay for each other. They’re so cute together. You know, that, and also I am also gay.” Richie took a giant bite of his sandwich and was looking anywhere but at the other people in the room.   
“Thanks for telling us, Rich, we support you.” Joyce said. Richie smiled at her.  
“I knew that you had to be a great mom, Ms. Byers.” Richie said. Steve was just eating his sandwich in silence, knowing that the guy he suddenly has a crush on that he’s cuddled with and he hasn’t even known for a week, is gay. Steve was trying to not get his hopes up.


	4. I'm not gonna be updating this anmore.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please read this. I'm sorry.

Some people made me feel weird about my ship choice, and even though I still love Steve and Richie, these people took my motivation for this story and destroyed it. I had been excited to share what I made with them (this story) and they basically shat on me for my ship choice and they tried to say the ship was a pedophelic relationship because canon Rich is 12 and Steve is 19, but their story lines don't even match up. Richie is 17 here and Steve is 19, but they made me feel like garbage and the thought of updating this makes me unhappy. I'm sorry if you enjoyed this story, but as I said, it's no longer going to be updated unless sometime in the future I decide to update.  
I'm sorry but I hope you enjoyed the three first chapters at least.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know when the second chapter will come out, but I hope you enjoyed! If you had problems with my grammar or my writing, let me know!! Let me know of any other tags I should add, please.


End file.
